


Rite of Spring

by owlmoose



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/F, Fic Exchange, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-31 06:44:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isabela wants to get Merrill out of the house, but maybe what she's really looking for is inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rite of Spring

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Valentine's Day DA exchange on Tumblr.

It was an almost disgustingly perfect spring day -- the warm sun high in a clear sky, a gentle breeze blowing, the scent of blooming trees wafting through the city. Even the Alienage wasn't immune from the day's charms, as a bird warbled from somewhere high up in the rooftops. Isabela closed her eyes and tipped her head back, luxuriating in the sunlight on her face. Yes, it was a perfect day... to be outside, not cooped up in a Kirkwall hovel. And Isabela was determined to make sure that no one suffered such a cruel fate.

To that end, she marched up to Merrill's door and rapped her knuckles hard against it. "Kitten? You in there?" No reply was forthcoming, and so she tried the handle from idle curiosity; it was unlocked, of course, and she sighed with affectionate exasperation. No wonder Varric grumbled about the bribes he paid to keep his Daisy safe. Convincing the street gangs to steer clear of such an easy target had to cost a fortune. 

Isabela opened the door, closed and latched it behind her, then blinked a few times to adjust to the dimness. Only a few beams of light came through cracks in the curtains and the wooden slat walls to break the gloom, and Isabela shook her head; it wasn't natural for anyone not raised underground to live like this, but especially not one of the Dalish. Merrill sat on the floor in the center of the room, staring up at her broken magic mirror with such intensity that Isabela half-expected her to yank something out from the beyond with her eyes alone. "Oh, hello, Isabela," she said without moving. "How are you today?"

"Enjoying this glorious weather, which is what you should be doing." Isabela let her hand fall on the top of Merrill's head and mussed her hair. "I'm here on a mission to get you to join me on a jaunt out of the city. Pack a lunch, do some hunting. It's a perfect day for it, I promise. Might even be warm enough to swim."

"Ah." Merrill glanced up at her with a smile, then looked back to the mirror. "It's a kind thought, truly it is. But I have to decline, I'm afraid. So very much to do."

"Like sit in the dark with just a mirror to keep you company?" Isabela walked close to the Eluvian and ventured to touch it, running a hand along the swoop of the wooden vines and halla that made up the frame, trying to see what Merrill saw in the relic. But try as she might, she couldn't. As far as she could tell, it was just furniture. A beautifully-crafted piece of furniture, to be sure; the wood was smooth as silk and polished to a gloss almost as high as the glass itself. But it couldn't compare to bathing in the warmth of the sun, or caressing the curves of a lover. How could anyone let an object consume their life like this? 

Well, maybe if lives were at stake. A life such as her own. But that was different, she told herself, and squashed the rest of the thought before returning her attention to Merrill, who once again had her eyes fixed firmly on the mirror. "You're an elf, kitten. Aren't you supposed to want to be outside, communing with nature?" 

Merrill responded with a sigh; from anyone else, Isabela would have called it sarcastic. "This is nature? One tree in the entire Alienage, the smell of rot and sewage and dead fish, cold hard ground underfoot? I might as well stay inside." She looked down at the floor, then caught Isabela's eyes for just a moment, glinting with determination. "And I can't leave. I'm so close to a breakthrough! I can't stop now. I have to do this."

Isabela pulled off her daggers and set them carefully aside before sinking down to the packed dirt floor, folding her legs beneath her. "I know," she said, and she gave Merrill's shoulder a light squeeze. "I can't say I really _understand_. But I know."

Merrill ducked her head again, then raised it with a shy smile. "Isabela, lethallan. I can't tell you how much it means when you say that. You're the only one, you know? All the others think I'm crazy, or misguided, or evil. No one else believes in me, not even Varric. Not even Hawke. When she took the arulin'holm from me..." 

Tears glistened in the corners of her huge green eyes, and Isabela lifted her hand to Merrill's cheek, thumb poised to wipe them away. "It's okay, kitten. I can believe in you enough for all of them." She stroked the line of Merrill's high cheekbone and then leaned in plant a kiss on her forehead, then her nose; Merrill closed her eyes and, rather than moving away, lifted her chin up, an invitation that Isabela accepted gladly. She lowered her mouth to Merrill's, and Merrill responded, pressing their lips together, bringing a delicate hand around Isabela's neck. 

The kiss started out slow, gentle, every bit as sweet as Isabela had imagined it might be as their lips moved together, a series of lingering caresses. Merrill's fingers tangled in Isabela's hair and pulled her closer; Isabela took Merrill's lower lip between her own and sucked on it, then ran her tongue along the plush skin. With a soft moan, Merrill opened her mouth -- so wet, so warm, so welcoming -- and Isabela slid her tongue inside. She ran her hand down Merrill's neck to stroke her arm, then brought it around her back to embrace her, her small high breasts pushing against Isabela's. She imagined how they might feel, their weight cupped in her hands, and she let out a sigh of her own, desire and anticipation wrapped together in a delicious package.

She pressed forward, leaning Merrill back just a smidge; she felt Merrill hesitate before she pushed back, and with a force of will, she broke the kiss. Merrill laid the flat of her palm against Isabela's neck and tipped her head to the side. Her eyes still shone, but any hint of tears had disappeared. This was something else. Something much more fun. "Is everything all right?"

Isabela smiled, brought her other hand up to trace the marking on Merrill's cheek with the back of her fingers. "Perfectly all right, kitten. Marvelous. You're marvelous. I just have to be sure this is what you want, that we aren't about to do anything you might regret."

Merrill's answering smile managed to somehow be both innocent and sultry, a look that provoked an instant reaction, pure liquid need filling Isabela to the brim. "Oh yes, Isabela. I want this-- you. So very much. Please."

Her slim fingers came down the side of Isabela's neck, then followed the curves of her ear, and she pressed her lips to Isabela's cheek. "Please," she murmured again, spelling out the word against Isabela's skin. 

Isabela's eyes fluttered closed, and she gripped Merrill by the shoulders. "Fuck, Merrill, you feel good," she whispered, and they kissed again, harder, mouths open and tongues pressed together. Isabela found the end of Merrill's scarf and unwound it, then undid the laces at the back of her shirt, loosening it enough to pull it up and off. Meanwhile, Merrill was working at Isabela's own laces between kisses; the bodice was already undone, and Merrill brought her hands up to Isabela's breasts, tracing a circle over her nipple with the pad of her thumb, warm and inviting even through her blouse. Isabela gasped, then again, harder, as the hand was replaced with the heat of Merrill's mouth, sucking, tongue stroking. 

She rested her hands on Merrill's back and drew her palms up and down, touching her creamy skin, silky and smooth, like the polished wood of the mirror but oh, so much softer, so much more inviting. Her eyes fluttered closed even as she unfastened Merrill's bodice and tossed it aside, questing for and finally finding those perfect breasts, the ones she had admired so many times and now finally got to touch, each one just the right size to fill a hand. 

When she could stand the torment of Merrill's mouth no longer, she removed her necklace and yanked off her shirt before pulling Merrill down, rolling onto her back, cradling Merrill against her chest, running her fingertips along the top of Merrill's ear and smiling as Merrill squirmed in response. "More?"

"So much more," Merrill sighed, and she found Isabela's mouth again, bodies pressed together, heedless of the hard floor beneath their backs, the troublesome relics that would return to haunt them both. Right now there was only Merrill, her warm lips, her nimble fingers traveling up the inside of Isabela's thigh. Today was a glorious spring day, and Isabela was celebrating, the very best way she knew how. The sun in the sky could wait until tomorrow.


End file.
